Young Africans Football: Yanga Club Guide, Kariakoo Derby and African Kick Off Times

Young Africans are a football club from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, founded on 11 February 1935 under the name New Young, and they play in the Tanzanian Premier League under the nickname the Wananchi. Yanga and Wananchi are nicknames of Young Africans. For readers in Johannesburg who call the game soccer, this is the yellow and green side that met Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2023-24 Champions League quarter-final. What follows covers the honours, the CAF runs, the Kariakoo derby, the stadium, the players and how to follow the club from five countries.

Read the fixtures using the listed time zones, and compare games played alongside points in the table.

Who Are Young Africans, the Wananchi of Dar es Salaam?

Young Africans are the yellow and green club of Dar es Salaam, a Tanzanian Premier League side founded in 1935 and known to their supporters as the Wananchi. The club began on 11 February 1935 as New Young, in the Kariakoo district, and that birthplace still names the biggest fixture in Tanzanian football. The Tanzanian Premier League is the top division of league football in mainland Tanzania. So, if a Nairobi friend says Wananchi and a Johannesburg colleague says Young Africans SC, the two of you are talking about one team.

Where Do You Find Yanga News and Transfer Talk?

Yanga news and transfer talk sit in the dated news feed on the club hub, kept apart from the guide so that a rumour never hardens into a fact. The Citizen reported on Yanga's elimination by Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2023-24 CAF Champions League and previewed the April 2024 Kariakoo derby, examples of coverage of both continental competition and the domestic rivalry. In my opinion, the sensible habit is to read the date and the source on every transfer line, because a move reported in Dar es Salaam can change shape by the time the club confirms it. The squad module changes only when a signing is official.

How Do You Follow Yanga Fixtures, Results and the Table From Africa?

The Yanga fixtures list gives every scheduled match with its competition and venue, and the results and table modules update after each game, so none of those numbers needs to live in the prose. Dar es Salaam runs on East Africa Time, the same clock as Nairobi and Kampala. For everyone else the conversion is fixed all year: a match starting at 19:00 EAT kicks off at 16:00 GMT in Accra, 17:00 WAT in Lagos and 18:00 SAST in Johannesburg. When you read the table, or the log as many South Africans call it, check games played beside points, because CAF ties can leave Yanga with league matches in hand.

How Is the Yanga Squad Set Out?

Read the squad module by position and nationality. The squad module lists the current group by position and nationality, updated as transfers are confirmed. In the 2023-24 season, Yanga's players included the Malian goalkeeper Djigui Diarra, the Ivorian midfielder Pacome Zouzoua and the Tanzanian forward Clement Mzize. Perhaps the cleanest way to read the list is by flag, since the spread of countries tells you how seriously the club treats the CAF stage. And, whenever a West African name arrives, Lagos and Accra gain a fresh reason to watch.

What Have Young Africans Won?

Young Africans have won the Tanzanian league title many times and have four Federation Cup titles through 2023-24, plus five CECAFA Club Championship titles, in 1975, 1993, 1999, 2011 and 2012. Community Shield wins are listed in the same module. In my opinion, the CECAFA titles deserve more attention outside East Africa, since this is the regional club championship for East and Central Africa and carries real weight in Kampala and Nairobi.

The continental record includes the following dated milestones. Yanga reached the CAF Confederation Cup group stage in 2016 and 2018, then in May 2023 became the first Tanzanian club to reach a Confederation Cup final, after beating South Africa's Marumo Gallants 4-1 on aggregate in the semi-final. The May 2023 final against USM Alger finished 2-2 on aggregate, with the cup going to Algiers on away goals. A CAF Champions League quarter-final followed in 2023-24, then group stage places in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the kind of steady presence that changes how a club is seen across the continent.

From Kariakoo to Benjamin Mkapa: The History in Brief

Yanga's story starts in the Kariakoo district of Dar es Salaam, where the club was founded as New Young on 11 February 1935, and its yellow and green later became part of the country's political story. TANU, Tanzania's independence party, adopted the same primary colours as the club, a rare case of a football shirt helping to shape a national palette. It could be argued that this is why the Wananchi name sits so comfortably on the supporters. On a derby day, the colours read as much as a civic statement as a football one.

Home is the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, which holds 60,000, and Yanga drew the highest average home crowd in the Tanzanian league in 2023-24, at 9,460. That was the highest average home attendance in the Tanzanian league in 2023-24. In my opinion, the derby and the big CAF nights are where that capacity makes the most sense, and they are the fixtures to pick if you want to hear the full Yanga atmosphere on a stream from Lagos or Accra.

Why Does Yanga Matter From Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra and Kampala?

Yanga have specific CAF connections with South African clubs. Two PSL clubs have met them at the sharp end of CAF competition. In the 2023 Confederation Cup semi-final Yanga beat Marumo Gallants 4-1 on aggregate, and in the 2023-24 Champions League quarter-final Mamelodi Sundowns went through on penalties after a 0-0 first leg in Dar es Salaam on 30 March 2024. That goalless night is the one match I would point any Downs fan towards, with the first leg in Dar es Salaam ending 0-0.

Kenya and Uganda follow Yanga as neighbours. The Citizen's coverage of the Kariakoo derby includes a preview of the April 2024 meeting and a report on the rivalry's move to Zanzibar in 2025. Uganda shares the CECAFA region. Yanga won the CECAFA Club Championship in 1975, 1993, 1999, 2011 and 2012. Both countries also sit on East Africa Time, so there is nothing to convert: the kick off printed in Dar es Salaam is the kick off at home.

Readers in Lagos and Accra can follow Yanga through CAF competition, using the fixture module to find opponents and kick-off times.

Yanga, Wananchi, Kariakoo: What Do the Names Mean?

Most of the name confusion around the club clears up once you know a handful of words. Young Africans is the full name and Yanga the everyday short form, so they are one club. Wananchi is another nickname of Young Africans. Kariakoo is the district where both Yanga and Simba were founded, which is why their meeting is called the Kariakoo derby.

Which Yanga Games Matter Most, and What Time Do They Kick Off?

The Kariakoo derby with Simba matters most, with the CAF knockout nights close behind. Both clubs were founded in Kariakoo, and derby days are citywide events in Dar es Salaam, something like the whole of Surulere splitting into two colours for a weekend. Before the April 2024 meeting, The Citizen counted 111 league derbies since 1965, with Yanga on 39 wins, Simba on 32 and 40 draws. Simba's 6-0 win in 1977 still comes up, since the dispute it caused inside Yanga led to the formation of Pan African S.C. In 2025 the derby went to the New Amaan Complex in Zanzibar, the first league meeting there.

Every Yanga fixture in the module carries its time in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT together, so you never have to do the sum yourself. As a rule of thumb, Johannesburg is one hour behind Dar es Salaam, Lagos two hours behind and Accra three, while Nairobi and Kampala share the same clock. If the derby or a CAF night is the game you plan your week around this season, set your reminder from the fixture module rather than from a forwarded message, because league and CAF times can be moved and the module updates when they are.